


One Shot

by Control_Room



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Death, Gen, Life - Freeform, Linework, POV Second Person, Second Chances, rhythmic, thematic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 08:47:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28632741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Control_Room/pseuds/Control_Room
Summary: Wake up.
Relationships: (mentioned) - Relationship, Joey Drew/Henry Stein
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	One Shot

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Midnight_Falling_Angel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Midnight_Falling_Angel/gifts).



“One two three--”

Counted in again. 

“We’re pulling you out.”

Moved away again. 

“Mr. Drew, this, this is madness.”

Tell me that again, Sammy.

“Joey, I’m here.”

How close to death can one go before they are no longer alive, a moving corpse?

“Your old… pal.”

How close to life can one be before they can breathe once more?

The whole world was turned on its head, all black and white with dashes of tawny sepia, and they avoided looking at each other. 

He had worked too hard to lose this now.

One shot.

One shot to save his children, his studio, his family, and his world. 

Anger. Hope. 

These two feelings are not mutually exclusive.

A punch to the face was enough to flood the studio, sending him running down the hall, sending him falling down the broken boards.

This all was predetermined, all planned. 

Grab your axe, lift the tool, get out of my head you lying cheating cowardly--

Find the footsteps of the taller, find and follow, trace them like a detective and ignore the prophecies. Lungs are tightening and throats are coughing, sickness spreading and threatening to burst.

You would not dare stray from the path. You cannot escape this prison of your own making. 

Say amen, you are part of the flock now, you might think you are the one, and know, no you are not.

Pray he finds you, because otherwise you are lost for good.

“We’re taking you out.”

Eyes open and lungs fill, useless legs seated in a wheelchair, going over storyboards and plots. 

“Please come home,” slips from lips. “We need you here, if we want you or not. Stand up, save yourself so we can save you.”

Slice out his eye-- that is the only way to gain the retribution, kill him at his desk by whipping his soul to death. 

“One two three--”

Standing up and facing an angel that lies, a mirror into a soul long gone, _obey_ , you must, or else you will fall even more, like you always do. 

You are no angel! Pick the demon! Welcome to the halls you have destroyed! 

Go home! Come home! Find your wolfish appetite, for blood and gore, ink and wine, all your darkness is right. Make him shiver, make her quake, push his heart out with a stake, fight and yell and hack and bang! projectors flicker out and break. 

They wander after you, they search for your soul, your axe a glowing sign of freedom’s light, so swing away and send them up to heaven, you are their souls growing might. 

Welcome to the circus, you are the ringmaster, and he is the tightrope walker, lose your teeth and fall again, you coward! You sinner! Blackness is all you see, their death is all you need.

Waking up, three two one, alive and breathing another day, starvation and determination best of friends, wander down to the garden of spirits and watch the pollen float, and now returning to the crypt, he is a stalking ghost. 

How many times have we gone through this same script, how many times have you fallen, and how hard do we hope you will rise? 

It cost one his eye, his walk, his digits and his spirit under boulders, wake up! WAKE UP! Save yourself so he can save the world!

After all your trials, your tribulations complete, you stand and wait by his feet. He looks at you, he does not speak, his roar is all you know, you cannot apologize for the sins you have committed on your path to righteousness, and you laugh.

At yourself, your fears and and your dreams, all those nightmares coming to life. You want to join them in the sun of reality, you wish to walk and breathe again? You are the one who killed your soul, with whiskey and with purple eyes, those fumes of fortune and fame clouding your sight, and you left him! Abandoned your heart and let it die! You killed him in the ink, turned your back and painted his coffin black, face the reality you have created!

…

One shot?

One chance?

Dare he give it to you, mute behind a terrified smile?

Your body is gone, you let it fade, abandoned your heart, your love, your passion abated for matters more risque. Do you admit your drinking and your cheating, hacking beyond your domain?

The two of you stand silent, his legs are weary and yours inkstained. 

Restart.


End file.
